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Indians
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September 2000 - Scientists in India claim that the hottest chile in the world is grown in the northeastern hills of Assam. A variety called ‘Naga Jolokia’ tested 855,000 Scoville Units as compared to 577,000 for the ‘Red Savina’ habanero, said S.C. Das, deputy director of the Defense Research Laboratory in the town of Tezpur. The ‘Naga Jolokia’ is said to be a member of the species Capsicum frutescens, the same species as the ‘Tabasco’ chile, while the ‘Red Savina’ is a Capsicum chinense, and this statement from the Indian researchers alerted Frank Garcia of GNS Spices, the developer and grower of the ‘Red Savina’.
"It would be highly unusual for a frutescens to be that hot," Garcia said in an interview with the Fiery-Foods & Barbecue Business SuperSite. "Also, it is quite a coincidence that their test of the ‘Red Savina’ yielded exactly the same heat level as our lab tests." Garcia pointed out that environmental factors such as soil type and moisture levels alter the heat levels, so it is highly unusual for the same variety to have precisely the same heat level test after test.
Garcia said that the ‘Red Savina’, listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s hottest chile, has been challenged before. "In some cases labs have discovered that the challengers’ samples have been adulterated with oleoresin," the extremely hot capsaicin extract, thus disqualifying them. "But anything’s possible," he said of the ‘Naga Jolokia’, "so, bring it on and let’s get some American laboratories to test samples of both the Indian chile and the ‘Red Savina’ and see which is the hottest."
The Indian scientists said that the ‘Naga Jolokia’ has a pod that measures about two inches long and a half inch wide. The people in Assam have been eating it for centuries, and the chile sells for about $1 to $1.50 per pound, depending on the quality of the pods.
Stay tuned for more hot news on the hottest chile peppers!
See also: Indian Chile Update (November 2000) and our November 2006 Update
